Warhawks Hold Titans Scoreless

Defending national champion UW-Whitewater recorded two shutouts over the UW-Oshkosh baseball team on Tuesday (April 7) at Tiedemann Field.

The Warhawks (16-1, 6-0 WIAC), ranked third in the NCAA Division III by D3baseball.com, won by scores of 8-0 in the opener and 4-0 in the nightcap to increase their season winning streak to 14 games.

UW-Whitewater's Curtis Morgan and John Olejniczak combined to scatter seven singles in the first game. The Warhawks' Colin Grove, who didn't allow a hit until the seventh inning, pitched a complete-game three-hitter in the second contest.

UW-Whitewater shortstop Mikole Pierce ended the day 4-for-7 with three runs, two doubles, one solo home run, two walks and two stolen bases.

In the opening game, UW-Oshkosh starting pitcher Peter Jewell held the Warhawks scoreless until allowing an unearned run in the third inning after the first of the Titans' five errors in the contest.

Five of UW-Whitewater's eight runs were unearned, including all three in the fourth inning as the Warhawks built a 4-0 advantage on Nick Kuhlmann's two-run single.

UW-Oshkosh (9-9, 1-5 WIAC) had two hits in the first, fourth and fifth innings, but Morgan stranded seven Titans through the first five frames.

Mike Mierow and Pierce both registered three of UW-Whitewater's 14 hits. Pierce added two of the Warhawks' four stolen bases.

Morgan (3-0) went the first six innings, allowing six hits and two walks while striking out three batters.

Olejniczak notched his second save of the season by yielding just one hit and striking out four batters in the three innings pitched.

John Eagan led UW-Oshkosh with two hits for his team-leading ninth multihit game of the year.

Jewell (2-2) took the loss after ceding six runs (two earned) in 5.1 innings pitched.

In the second game, Grove outdueled Titan starting pitcher Ben Messenger (1-3), who struck out eight batters and allowed three runs on six hits in eight innings.

Pierce hit a solo homer – his sixth of the season – with two outs in the first inning, and UW-Whitewater added single runs in the fourth, eighth and ninth frames.

UW-Oshkosh's Andy Brahier spoiled Grove's no-hit bid by lacing a single to center field with one out in the seventh inning.

Adam Gregory and Pierce both had two of the Warhawks' six hits in the nightcap.

Grove (5-0) struck out seven batters, allowed three singles and walked one while lowering his earned run average to 0.77 on the season.

UW-Oshkosh welcomes Lawrence University for a single nonconference game on Wednesday (April 8) at Tiedemann Field.

Photo courtesy of Larry Radloff, d3photography.com.